SB 1421 “RIGHT TO KNOW” SIGNED INTO LAW: Governor Brown has signed SB 1421, changing four decades of precedent in which California barred public access to records of police misconduct and use of force. Under the old law, not even prosecutors have been allowed direct access to records of officers found guilty of misconduct. More than half of states in the country make some or all police misconduct records available to the public.

While hundreds of faculty, students, and CSU advocates have written Gov. Brown, urging him to sign critical legislation improving access for students to mental health services, more messages still are needed.

Sacramento, CA – The California State Legislature has passed SB 968 (Pan), a bill to improve substantially access to critically needed mental health services for students in the California State University system.

The bill is now on it’s way to Governor Brown’s desk to await his signature.

Meantime, CSU faculty have begun a drive to send emails and make phone calls to the governor urging him to sign SB 968 into law. The Governor has until the end of this month to decide.

Dr. La Tanya Skiffer spends four hours a week in advising sessions with her students at CSU Dominguez Hills. Intermingled with discussions about course work for her criminology courses, Skiffer learns about their lives.

As the August 31 deadline to pass bills out of the California State Legislature approaches, two CFA-sponsored bills are out of final committees and headed for State Assembly floor votes. If approved, they go to the Governor to sign into law.

Untiring advocacy by CFA members and CSU students this year is paying off as support grows for three CFA-sponsored bills, two of which passed through the Senate today and one more headed for a floor vote this week.

Two public hearings last week by State Assembly committees took up issues affecting the CSU. One hearing looked at diversity among instructional faculty, and another examined the future of the state’s Master Plan for Higher Education.

If a California public employee is found by an agency investigation to have a committed a crime, the results are public record. That makes sense. While due process rights must always be protected, most public employees found guilty are not protected from public scrutiny.

New Senate Bill 968, introduced by state Senator Dr. Richard Pan and sponsored by CFA and SEIU, will require CSU management to ensure there is at least one full-time-equivalent mental health counselor for every 1,000 students on a CSU campus.

Most of us in public higher education know that California is not on pace to put enough college degrees in the hands of Californians. Studies say the state’s economy will feel it soon, and it won’t be possible to “import” enough college-educated people to solve it.